Anime Favourites A-Z Challenge (Sunday Twenty-Sixes)
It’s hard enough narrowing it down to my top ten anime, so trying to come up with a top twenty-six might make things easier… Not if you have to only choose one per letter of the alphabet!
Anime Favourites A-Z Challenge
That’s right, you’re not seeing things. For one week only, I’ve changed my Sunday Sevens post to be a Sunday Twenty-Sixes post so that I can fit this awesome tag post from Railgunfan75. It’s a good job I did my Anime A to Z Challenge last year as I wouldn’t have any titles for several of these. Basically, for this Challenge, I have to pick my favourite anime for each letter of the alphabet based on the first letter in the title. Sounds easy enough… right?
The Rules
As with all good blog tags, you’ve got to have some rules otherwise people will do whatever they want… and that’s just blogging. So, here they are. Let me know if I break any, because who has time to read the rules… Just kidding.
- Pick a favourite series/movie for each letter of the alphabet. For titles starting with “a” “an” or “the” use the first letter of the next word of the title.
- Since many titles have multiple names based on the language that you are using please pick one language for the entire list (Use all English titles or all Japanese titles) and let the readers know which language you will be using. If a title has the same name regardless of the language then it can be used in any list.
- If you don’t have a title that fits under a particular letter, you can name another favourite from a different letter in its place, just indicate which letter spot you are using for that series. This can be done up to three times. If you can’t fill a spot then you can leave it blank. No more than 26 total series are allowed.
- Including a picture for each series is encouraged.
- Share who tagged you for this challenge and nominate 3 more to try it themselves and include links to their blogs.
- Just have fun with this challenge. I wanted to get everyone to share some favourite series and spread the word about awesome blogs!
I’m going to be using the English titles as that’s the primary one I use on this site, although I do use both English and Japanese in the tags. All right, let’s get it on!
A. Attack on Titan
This was a tough one, but Attack on Titan is one of my all-time favourites and one of the things that really inspired me to write my own fiction.
B. Berserk: Golden Age Arc
So, this is three movies, but I don’t care. Individually, they’re amazing. Together, they are a thrilling work of art with some of the most insane twists and imagery imaginable.
C. Cowboy Bebop
This series is spectacular. I love the way it plays with genres and consistently keeps things interesting. The soundtrack is pretty awesome too.
D. Dr. Stone
It was my favourite series from 2019 and easily takes this spot. I loved everything about Dr. Stone, although Kohaku was a particular favourite.
E. El Cazador de la Bruja
I knew nothing of this series and have rarely seen anyone talking about it, but it was fantastic. Amazing story, killer soundtrack, and great characters.
F. Fruits Basket
I’m still a little surprised to find Fruits Basket here, but I can’t fault it. In fact, I actually love it and am constantly amazed by how good it is.
G. Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions
This series just blew me away. We’re so used to seeing the overpowered MC arrive in the new world and take over, so it was a delight to see a group actually develop and overcome the hardships.
H. Highschool of the Dead
It’s not only my number one favourite anime of all time, but my favourite zombie story, my favourite manga, and home to my favourite character of all time – Saeko Busijima.
I. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
I started reading the manga first for this series and when I ran out of books, I jumped into the anime. The first twelve episodes covered the manga I’d read, which meant I had the thirteenth episode to enjoy spoiler-free. This was too much fun.
J. Jormungand
I knew nothing of this series going in, other than it started with a J and I needed one for my challenge. Well, this is excellent and easily deserves another watch when I get a chance.
K. KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!
Too funny, too many awesome characters. This series is just a delight and I appreciate the darker humour involved.
L. Lord Marksman and Vanadis
This is probably the first one on the list that wouldn’t make it into my top twenty-six. It was fun and had some nice moments, but the narrator and the way it displayed the battles really annoyed me. Just show us the actual fights already.
M. My First Girlfriend is a Gal
This series was a complete surprise. It had some fun fan-service, but it was a really heartwarming story and there were too many things I could relate to from my teenage years that it made a real impression on me.
N. No Game No Life
I’m pretty sure I’m the last person in the world to see this series and I’m so annoyed that I put it off for so long. I love strategy games and this was all that and more. Jibril rocks!
O. One-Punch Man
The best part of this series for me wasn’t the fights. I loved them, but it was the internal thought process of Saitama. For example when he was getting beat up and realised that he’d missed his coupon day. Brilliant!
P. Project A-ko
I will literally never get tired of this movie. It’s one of my first anime experiences and it’s completely bonkers. I knew as soon as I watched this that I was going to become a lifelong anime fan.
Q. The Quintessential Quintuplets
I love all the girls in this series, but it was Futaro that sold me. Damn it, if I am not Futaro. I’m always calculating the best-value items on a menu. Doesn’t everyone?
R. Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World
This was another series I dropped the ball on and didn’t get into until later. Regardless of it being an Isekai, it’s one of my favourite fantasy stories ever.
S. School-Live!
Zombies and traumatic experiences… sign me up. This series was just so well done and every aspect of it was carefully considered. Just look at the changes in the OP as the series goes on. Amazing.
T. To The Abandoned Sacred Beasts
I remembered watching the first couple of episodes as it aired and then forgot about it. Then, once it had finished I binge-watched the rest and absolutely loved it. And who can forget about Liza?
U. Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
This is by no means a perfect series, but it has lots of interesting ideas and I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would.
V. Violet Evergarden
This series is absolutely spectacular on every level. I loved every minute of it.
W. Why the hell are you here, Teacher?
I loved this series as stupid as it is. It was hilarious and I ended up getting caught up in the love stories, as inappropriate as they were. The censorship was a bit of a bummer though.
X. Ergo Proxy
The only series I’ve seen that begins with an X is Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary and I just can’t put it in a favourites list. So, I’ve chosen Ergo Proxy as it has an X in it. It’s also awesome, dark, and full of twists and turns.
Y. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
This was another that I instantly fell in love with. It’s silly and raunchy and fun. So much fun. I grew up in England where there was a lot of raunchy comedy so this sits firmly in my comfort zone.
Z. Zombie Land Saga
I never imagined I’d get in an idol series, but then it does have zombies. It’s also hilarious and I love Kotaro.
After all that, I feel like I had better thank TCrow from Crow’s World of Anime for nominating me for this challenge. I think we have surprisingly similar tastes in anime, so I hope you enjoy this list. All that’s left for me to do now is nominate three more bloggers.
The Nominations
- Yomu from Umai Yomu Anime Blog
- Tiger from TigerAnime
- Eggsandwich04 from KS Blogs
Well, there you have it. I hope my eclectic tastes in anime haven’t left you shocked and confused. It’s been a lot of fun putting together this post, so it’s all good. Thanks for reading.
Other Tag Posts
- Once a Geek! (The Geeky Childhood Tag)
- Chronicling the Otaku Author! (Blogger Recognition Award)
- Well, this is Neat! (Real Neat Blog Award)
- How Bizarre! (Mystery Blogger Award)
- Grab your Shades! (The Sunshine Blogger Award)
- Length Matters! (Give it a Light Novel Title)
- Anime Favorites A-Z Challenge
- My Unpopular Anime Opinions (The Unpopular Opinions Tag)
- Even More Dazzling Radiance! (The Sunshine Blogger Award)
- Length Really Matters! (Give it a Light Novel Title 2)
- Twenty Questions!? (Let’s Blog Award)
- Friends to the End! (The Bubble Tag)
- Putting Me in Anime! (The Kore Wa Watashi Blog Award)
Awesome list! A bunch of your picks were contenders to make my final list. I also like how everyone is briefly talking about why they made their picks-something I didn’t think about including. Thanks for the shoutout and glad to see that you had fun doing this!
No worries and thanks for coming up with the tag post. It was a lot of fun trying to pick the shows for the letters.
‘Project A-ko’ is so wonderfully wildly over the top, huh? 😀
Yeah, when I saw it I was like this is how all humour should be. I rewatched it fairly recently and loved it just as much. Even the 80s synthesizer music made me nostalgic.
Yes! And that Kenshiro/Mari parody is just bananas too
Absolutely. It’s Kenshiro with pigtails and a squeaky voice. Love it. Might favourite part is when you find out who the princess is. How is not Aiko?
That is a great list and such a creative idea!
Thanks. I like that it makes you pick stuff that might not get a look in with a straight forward top ten.
No problem. I’m sure I would pick series or movies that I wouldn’t put in one of my Top 7 lists, but it could work in that context.
“I think we have surprisingly similar tastes in anime, so I hope you enjoy this list.”
Surprisingly similar is right! A lot of the ones you picked almost made it onto my list.
In fact, about the only one that you picked that I wasn’t thinking about was Project A-ko,” and that’s because I haven’t seen it. So I get another series to add to my backlog!
And yes, Jibril rocks!
Project A-Ko is a collection of movies and an OVA. The first movie should be enough for you be completely sold though.
It’s funny, I was looking at your list as I put mine together and trying not to pick too many the same.
[…] you have it. I have finally completed challenge. I think I better thank Otaku author for nominating me because it was really fun doing this challenge. Oh yeah, now I shoud choose my […]
Some good choices! Nice to see Grimgar get a shout out – that’s a series that doesn’t get near enough attention.
I agree with “My First Girlfriend”… Watched it on a whim because I was in the mood for a trashy fanservice show, and was pleasantly surprised to find there was more to it.
Same here with My First Girlfriend. Wasn’t expecting much and it just kept hitting memories and left me nodding and shaking my head. Been there, done that. Why can’t these two just talk to one another?